Shiranui
Shiranui (白野威 "White-wild Majesty") is the historical hero of Kamiki Village one hundred years ago in Nippon's history. Shiranui is Amaterasu's previous incarnation at full power, wielding the Solar Flare Reflector. Story Legend 100 years ago when the ceremony to sacrifice a maiden to Orochi drew near, a white wolf was seen roaming around the village at night. The villagers, thinking the wolf as a familiar of Orochi, named the wolf "Shiranui". Because the villagers thought Shiranui to be a familiar of Orochi, a man named Nagi attempted to challenge it, but the wolf would use its swift movements to escape from him every time. On the night of the festival, when it was discovered that Nagi's beloved, Nami, was to be sacrificed to Orochi, Nagi disguised himself as Nami to gain access to and slay Orochi. However, his attempts seemed to be in vain because of Orochi's steel-hard hide. During their battle, Nagi was brutally injured. Just before the fatal blow was to be dealt to Nagi, Shiranui arrived and stepped in to battle Orochi. After hours of fighting, Shiranui received many wounds and was about to lose the battle. When the final blow was about to be struck, Shiranui lifted it's head and howled, summoning the moon, which gave Nagi new strength that helped him defeat and seal Orochi. Even though the battle was won, it came at a price. Shiranui had been poisoned by Orochi's deadly claws during the battle and was slowly, but surely, dying. Nagi carried Shiranui back to the village where the wolf quietly passed away. The villagers built a shrine on the resting grounds in honor of Shiranui's brave deeds. Ōkami Journey to the Past Amaterasu heads back through the Spirit Gate to aid Nagi in fighting Orochi and find Lika, an Oina girl who was destined to recite the Volcanic Incantation to save Kamui from being frozen over. She is mistaken for Shiranui during this time, even being attacked by Nagi himself. Following the battle with Orochi, a boulder fell from the sky above, seconds away from crushing Nagi. At the last second, Shiranui appeared and stopped the boulder from doing so, saving Nagi's life. Shiranui in the Present Due to Amaterasu's interference in the past through the spirit gate, Shiranui is not killed during the battle with Orochi. Sensing trouble for Shiranui's future self, the wolf traveled 100 years into the future through the Spirit Gate and assisted Amaterasu in combating the twin owls, Nechku & Lechku. Oki appeared at the end of the battle, and ended up fighting Lechku. When Oki's passion drove him to attempt a desperate attack to finish the two demons off for good, Lechku used its power to stop time, giving Nechku the chance to deliver a devastating blow to Oki. This attack hit Shiranui, who had knocked Oki out of the way to take the full force of the attack. After Amaterasu and Oki defeat Lechku and Nechku, Shiranui travels back in time to Amaterasu's battle with Orochi. He arrived just in time to block Orochi's final attack from claiming Nagi's life. Nagi then carried Shiranui's fatally wounded body back to the village, where the wolf died from its wounds. When Amaterasu's power is fully restored in her final battle with Yami, she is also restored to her true form, taking on the appearance of Shiranui. Ōkamiden After Chibiterasu and Manpuku make their way through the Ice Room and defeat the guardian of the amber that can break the Moon Cave's barrier, they find Shiranui frozen in a block of ice. Chibiterasu unfreezes Shiranui and Ishaku with Inferno, but Shiranui is weak from being frozen. However, Shiranui is convinced by Chibiterasu to let him travel to the Moon Cave while Shiranui heals. After Nagi is able to slay Orochi, Shiranui appears and saves Nagi once again from the boulder. However, the boulder does not kill Shiranui completely. After heading back to Kamiki Village, Akuro appears and orders Chibiterasu to travel back to the Moon Cave to fight him. Soon after, Akuro launches a huge meteor at Chibiterasu, Ishaku, Nami, Nagi, and Mr. Fruit. Shiranui, with the last bit of its strength, leaped toward Akuro's meteor and sacrificed itself to save them all, but dies shortly after. Gender Disputes In the original PlayStation 2 version, Shiranui remains genderless. However as Amaterasu is based off the Shinto Sun Goddess and Shiranui is a past incarnation of Amaterasu, it was said that Shiranui is a girl. In the PS2 version, Shiranui is said to be a male even though Amaterasu is referred to as a female by other characters. In the Wii version, Amaterasu's gender is ambiguous (although she is assumed to be female) and therefore Shiranui's gender was also ambiguous, but presumed female, due to the general lack of gender pronouns. This causes a lot of confusion with fans choosing to call them what they want to. In Ōkamiden, Ishaku refers to Shiranui as male, officially confirming his gender, however this is only in the English version of the game. On the other hand, it is also possible that Shiranui and Amaterasu share the same name but are separate, albeit related, similar to the relation between the 'young' versions of the Celestial Brush Gods and their parents. Trivia *One of the Karmic Transformers (Karmic Transformer 7) gives Amaterasu the appearance of Shiranui throughout the entire game. However, she lacks Shiranui's long mane of white flowing energy. She only regains this during the Yami boss battle when she regains her full strength. **When Ammy regains a new Celestial Brush Technique, she very briefly takes on Shiranui's appearance, including the Solar Flare reflector, the markings and the mane of energy. This appears to symbolize her powers returning. When she gains a new Divine Instrument after a boss battle, a similar event occurs, except that the mane is orange in color. **In Ōkamiden, the player can unlock the Sunrise Spell, which changes Chibiterasu's appearance to that of a smaller version of Shiranui. *When Amaterasu visits Ishaku, Issun's grandfather, in Ponc'tan, he calls her by her nickname "Ammy" rather than "Shiranui". This is because the name "Shiranui" is the name given to Amaterasu 100 years ago by the villagers of Kamiki Village. *In the battle with Nechku, Shiranui draws with golden ink. References Category:Ōkami Characters Category:Ōkamiden Characters